'Better Call Saul' Season 2: Jimmy’s transition into Saul

Cast member Bob Odenkirk arrives on the red carpet for a screening of U.S. television series "Better Call Saul" at the 65th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin February 10, 2015.
Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke

Cast member Bob Odenkirk and the producers of “Better Call Saul” spoke about Jimmy’s transition into Saul in Season 2 at the Arclight Cinema in Culver City on Tuesday. The producers revealed that the initial plan was to show his transformation by the end of the first season.

According to a report by Variety, Odenkirk said that his character’s journey to becoming Saul will be “slow.” Jimmy will fight to try and not become the double dealing lawyer that his character is set to become later in his life.

“It’s a slow journey, and then all of a sudden, he finds himself as Saul, I think that’s how it is going to go. My gut tells me he fights like hell to not be Saul, and then he just gives up for some reason that’s probably pretty potent and painful,” Odenkirk said at the premiere of the second season of the TV series.

Executive producers Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould revealed that they initially planned Jimmy to turn into Saul by the end of the first season or by the middle of the season. They, however, changed their minds later.

There hasn’t been a need for Jimmy to change his name in the first season of “Better Call Saul.” It is still not clear if the character will complete his transition in the second season. A “tragedy” will eventually lead to transition of Jimmy into Saul.

“We came to realize that Jimmy McGill is a guy we like better than Saul Goodman. He’s a guy we’d like to have a beer with, and we came to the realization that when he becomes Saul Goodman, it’s going to be a bit of a tragedy,” the producers of the show teased.

“Better Call Saul” Season 2 is set to premiere on Feb. 15. Some of the other cast members of the show are Jonathan Banks (Mike Ehrmantraut), Michael McKean (Chuck McGill), Rhea Seehorn (Kim Wexler) and Michael Mando (Nacho Varga).